LEGISLATION  TO  PREVENT  THE  UNITED  STATES 
FROM  BEING  MADE  A  RECEPTACLE  FOR  FOREIGN 
PAUPERS. 

[A  paper  by  Martin  B.  Anderson,  of  N.  Y.,  read  at  the  Conference  of  Chari- 
ties held  at  Saratoga,  September,  1876.] 

There  is  an  element  of  the  "pauper  question"  in  our  country 
which  requires  the  attention  of  every  citizen.  The  unprece- 
dented emigration  to  the  United  States  within  the  past  few  years, 
although  attended  with  much  good,  is  also  fraught  with  great 
dangers  and  evils.  Of  the  persons  who  emigrate  a  large  pro- 
portion are  men  of  broken  fortunes  who  from  some  cause  or 
other  have  been  unsuccessful  in  their  own  country.  A  still 
larger  number  of  them  are  persons  who  expend  their  entire 
property  in  paying  the  cost  of  emigration  to  their  new  home. 
Among  these  a  large  number,  from  the  difficulty  of  getting  em- 
ployment and  the  discouragements  natural  to  being  separated 
from  the  friends  of  their  early  life,  or  illness  induced  by  the 
voyage  and  change  of  climate,  are  thrown  upon  the  public  for  sup- 
port. But  this  is  an  evil  incidental  to  emigration,  and  should 
be  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course.  There  is  evidence,  however, 
to  show  that  a  large  number  of  persons  actually  paupers  or 
discharged  criminals,  have  been  sent  over  into  our  country 
either  by  governmental  aid,  or  by  the  assistance  of  relatives 
who  wish  to  avoid  the  disgrace  and  trouble  attendant  upon  the 
association.  Hence  the  class  of  emigrants,  while  containing  a 
large  number  of  most  excellent  and  healthy  additions  to  our 
population,  has  an  undue  proportion  of  the  dependent  and 
criminal  classes. 

Of  the  population  of  the  state  of  New  York  about  one-third 
are  of  foreign  birth,  and  from  that  one-third  about  two-thirds 
of  the  paupers  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  state  are  derived. 
This  fact  alone  will  show  the  evil  to  which  we  have  alluded  to 
be  a  serious  one.  It  repeats  itself  in  various  degrees  of  inten- 
sity in  our  maritime  states,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  all  the 
states  of  our  union.  While  we  gladly  throw  open  our  territory, 
and  extend  the  protection  of  our  institutions  to  emigrants  from 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


foreign  countries  that  are  able  and  willing  to  earn  their  own 
support,  we  cannot  and  ought  not  to  relieve  the  old  countries  of 
Europe  from  the  care  of  their  dependent  population. 

Certain  propositions  regarding  the  duty  of  the  nations  to 
their  dependent  population  seem  to  be  clear  : 

First.  A  nation  is  a  moral  organism  which  owes  certain  duties 
to  its  members,  and  to  which  its  members  owe  certain  duties 
in  return.  The  bond  between  government  and  subject  is  a  re- 
ciprocal one.  Therefore,  every  citizen  or  subject  is  bound  to 
maintain  by  his  property,  and  defend  by  his  life,  the  govern- 
ment, which  extends  to  him  its  protection  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  the  common  practice  of  civilized  peoples,  the  govern- 
ment assumes  the  care  of  its  subjects  when  they  are  unable  to 
care  for  themselves. 

Second.  This  obligation  of  a  nation  towards  its  dependent 
classes  cannot  be  transferred  to  another  without  that  other's 
consent.  Commercial  nations  recognize  this  principle  in  their 
provisions  through  the  consular  system  for  the  care  of  ship- 
wrecked, discharged,  or  disabled  seamen.  The  foreign  consuls 
of  civilized  nations  provide  for  their  maintenance,  and  return  to 
their  homes. 

Third.  It  is  clearly  an  offense  against  the  comity  of  nations 
for  any  government,  national  or  municipal,  to  throw  the  burden 
of  caring  for  its  dependent  population  upon  any  foreign  country. 
But  it  has  been  proved  beyond  all  question,  that  both  foreign 
municipalities  and  foreign  nations  have  provided  at  the  public 
expense  for  the  transportation  of  considerable  numbers  of  their 
pauper  class  to  the  United  States.  It  is  beyond  all  question 
that  paupers  and  criminals  in  considerable  numbers  have  been 
sent  to  the  United  States  by  their  relatives. 

Fourth.  A  nation  becomes  bound  to  support  a  foreign  born 
pauper  only  through  his  naturalization.  Naturalization  involves 
a  reciprocal  contract.  The  naturalized  party  repudiates  his 
allegiance  to  the  country  in  which  lie  was  born,  and  takes  upon 
himself  all  the  obligations  of  a  citizen.  He  becomes  bound  to 
pay  taxes  according  to  his  ability,  and  if  necessary  to  serve  in 
the  army  or  navy  against  domestic  or  foreign  enemies  :  but  an 
alien  is  free  from  a  large  measure  of  these  obligations,  and  the 


PAPEll  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


3 


state,  on  its  part,  comes  under  no  obligation  to  maintain  him,  if 
he  becomes  dependent.  The  American  sailor  or  resident  living 
in  England,  who  becomes  a  pauper,  appeals  naturally  and  right- 
fully to  his  own  consul  for  protection  aud  aid.  There  is  no 
reason  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  why  we  should  maintain  pau- 
pers who  are  subjects  of  Great  Britain  or  Germany,  who  are 
landed  upon  our  shores  in  a  dependent  condition  or  in  such  a 
state  of  mental  or  bodily  health  that  they  must  necessarily  be- 
come dependent.  We  are  no  more  bound,  apart  from  the 
general  law  of  humanity,  to  maintain  such  persons,  than  we  are 
to  pay  the  interest  on  the  English  national  debt,  or  furnish 
conscripts  for  the  German  army. 

The  question  arises  how  shall  this  transference  of  the  pauper 
population  of  the  old  countries  of  Europe  to  our  shores  be 
stopped.  This  is,  confessedly,  a  difficult  problem.  The  emi- 
grant commission  system  which  has  so  long  existed  in  some  of 
our  maritime  states,  has  undoubtedly  prevented  the  introduc- 
tion of  many  paupers  and  criminals,  but  it  has  on  the  whole 
proved  in  this  respect  a  failure  ;  and  constitutional  difficulties 
have  now  been  interposed  to  set  it  aside  entirely  for  the  future. 
So  far  as  the  question  of  international  law  is  concerned,  we  have 
an  undoubted  right  to  send  back  such  dependent  persons  to  the 
countries  to  which  they  belong.  If  they  have  become  natural- 
ized, we,  of  course,  are  bound  to  take  care  of  them  ourselves. 
It  may  be  questioned  whether  the  establishment  of  national 
bureaus  will  protect  us  against  this  influx  of  paupers  and  crimi- 
nals. A  system  which  has  failed  to  so  great  a  degree  in  the 
states,  under  the  influence  of  local  supervision  and  where  local 
interests  were  at  stake,  would  be  still  more  likely  to  fail  to  meet 
the  evil  through  a  bureau  established  by  the  general  govern- 
ment. Besides  there  are  several  classes  of  persons  whose  in- 
terests will  all  the  while  lead  them  to  evade  the  law.  First, 
there  is  the  shipping  interest,  which,  of  course,  desires  to  pro- 
mote the  emigration  of  all  persons  whose  passage  money  is  paid. 
Second,  there  is  the  land  interest  which  seeks  to  sell  to  the 
emigrant  vast  tracts  of  unoccupied  land  held  on  speculation. 
Next,  there  is  the  railroad  interest,  whose  profits  are  largely  in- 
creased by  the  transportation  of  emigrants  to  distant  portions 


4 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


of  our  country.  There  are  also  political  interests  which  may  be 
indirectly  promoted  by  the  increase  of  emigration.  All  these 
considerations  render  it  extremely  difficult  to  meet  the  evil 
through  a  bureau  of  emigration  alone.  Of  those  who  enter  our 
country  from  the  dominion  of  Canada  along  its  immense  border 
very  few  could  be  reached  by  any  emigrant  commission,  however 
efficient  and  active.  All  along  the  northern  border  of  New 
York,  and  indeed  in  all  northern  states,  the  poor  houses  and 
orphan  asylums  contain  a  very  large  percentage  of  dependent 
persons  of  both  European  and  Canadian  birth  who  have  sought 
a  refuge  within  our  limits.  The  recent  special  statistical  ex- 
amination of  poor  house  inmates,  conducted  by  the  New  York 
Board  of  Charities,  has  shown  that  of  the  large  number  of  alien 
paupers  found  in  our  northern  counties  few  if  any  had  landed 
in  New  York  or  Boston  or  could  have  been  reached  by  any 
emigration  bureau  for  the  purpose  of  examination  or  the  exaction 
of  head  money.  Whatever  may  be  done  by  a  bureau  with 
officers  in  our  large  seaports  for  meeting  this  danger,  it  seems 
to  me  that  such  efforts  ought  to  be  supplemented  by  other  modes 
of  action.  1  beg  leave  to  suggest  two.  By  requiring  of  the 
United  States  consuls,  at  all  the  large  ports  from  which  emi- 
grants are  shipped,  to  take  care  that  no  dependent  or  criminal 
goes  on  board  an  emigrant  ship  without  sending  evidence  of  the 
fact  to  the  authorities  of  the  port  to  which  the  ship  is  bound 
we  may  prevent  much  of  the  evil  under  which  we  suffer.  This 
course  would  exclude  a  large  proportion  of  the  class  of  paupers 
and  criminals  who,  heretofore,  have  been  surreptitiously  landed 
in  our  country.  I  purposely  avoided  going  into  the  details  pf 
the  process.  It  might  be  provided  for  by  act  of  Congress  and 
the  duty  imposed  upon  the  consuls  to  examine  emigrants  and 
obtain  authentic  evidence  regarding  the  residence,  history,  and 
character,  of  all  persons  reasonably  suspected  of  being  paupers 
or  criminals.  When  paupers  or  criminals  were  found  among 
passengers  the  shippers  would  not  care  to  take  them  for  fear  of 
subjecting  themselves  to  the  penalties  of  our  law.  Concert  of 
action  among  our  consuls  would  enable  them  to  secure  evidence 
which  could  not  be  obtained  after  the  pauper  or  criminal  were 
once  across  the  Atlantic.    When  a  pauper  is  once  here  he  is 


# 


PAPER  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


5 


likely  to  be  thrown  on  our  care  for  life.  If  he  should  be  sup- 
ported out  of  the  head  money  for  five  years,  after  that  time  he 
is  sure  to  be  a  burden  on  the  taxpayer.  The  cost  of  maintaining 
such  persons  in  a  poor  house  or  prison  is  a  trifling  evil  compared 
with  the  moral  contamination  which  they  bring  and  the  character 
of  the  progeny  which  in  some  cases  they  leave  behind  them. 
The  hereditary  character  of  pauperism  and  crime  is  the  most 
fearful  element  with  which  society  has  to  contend.  The  ex- 
penses of  this  preventive  process  would  be  light  and  the  labor 
distributed  among  a  large  number  of  consuls  could  not  be 
onerous.  We  thus  might  establish  a  kind  of  moral  quarantine 
and  those  whom  the  consul  permitted  to  embark  without  protest 
would  have,  by  presumption,  a  clean  bill  of  health. 

Second,  provision  might  be  made  by  law,  either  by  congress 
or  the  several  states  as  the  principles  of  constitutional  law  might 
require,  giving  authority  to  the  Boards  of  Charities  in  the  several 
states  to  send  back  to  the  countries  to  which  they  belong  every 
alien  pauper,  who  has  become  such  within  a  certain  specified 
time  after  landing  upon  shores.  The  expenses  of  retransporta- 
tion  might  be  borne  by  the  general  or  state  governments.  The 
expense,  however,  in  either  case  would  be  a  trifle  compared  with 
that  of  maintaining  a  pauper  during  the  average  term  of  such 
paupers'  lives.  It  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  principles  of 
international  law  would  not  justify  us  in  insisting  that  the  ex- 
pense of  such  retransportation  of  paupers  should  be  borne  by  the 
countries  from  which  they  come  ;  it  being  a  fair  presumption  that 
the  countries  themselves  had  either  actively  transported  among 
the  emigrants  such  paupers  or  winked  at  the  process  when  ori- 
ginated by  individuals  or  municipalities.  This,  however,  would 
be  a  matter  for  negotiation.  It  is  clear  that  the  extradition  of 
such  paupers  or  criminals  would  be  an  immense  saving  to  all 
our  states.  The  average  term  of  life  of  all  paupers  cannot  be 
less  than  from  ten  to  fifteen  years.  The  maintenance  of  such 
paupers  cannot  be  less  in  the  aggregate  than  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  apiece.  The  cost  of  sending  them  across  the  Atlantic 
(estimating  transportation  at  the  usual  rates  both  by  land  and 
water)  could  not  be  more  than  fifty  dollars  per  capita  on  the 
average.    The  moral  and  economic  advantages  in  other  respects 


6 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


which  such  an  expurgation  of  our  population  would  confer,  can 
hardly  be  estimated.  If  we  take  this  course  with  regard  to 
foreign  nations,  they  will  be  open  to  take  the  same  course  re- 
garding our  own  citizens.  The  obligation  and  the  duty  would 
be  reciprocal.  We  may  ask  of  other  nations  what  they  may 
ask  of  us.  We  are  ready  to  discharge  the  same  duty  that  we 
require  of  them  to  discharge  towards  us.  Such  a  demand  would 
be  equitable  and  just.  The  principle  that  each  nation  should 
care  for  its  own  pauper,  insane  and  .dangerous  classes  is  beyond 
all  possible  question,  and  the  plan  which  we  propose  is  a  simple 
application  of  it  to  the  existing  state  of  things. 

The  law  of  settlement  in  its  bearing  on  municipalities  has  been 
enforced  with  much  rigidity  both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  our 
own  country,  and  we  are  familiar  with  its  bearing  on  the  pauper 
question.  No  town  will  support  a  pauper  who  has  a  settlement 
in  another  town,  and  almost  all  the  states  have  passed  laws  pro- 
viding for  the  transportation  out  of  the  state  of  paupers  that 
have  no  legal  settlement  within  its  borders,  to  the  states  where 
such  paupers  belong. 

This  law  has  been  applied  for  a  considerable  time  and  with 
uniformly  good  results.  The  same  principle  which  the  states 
of  the  union  have  acted  upon,  relatively  to  each  other,  regarding 
the  support  of  paupers,  may  be  applied  to  foreign  nations.  A 
non-naturalized  pauper,  having  a  legal  settlement  in  Canada, 
would  in  that  case  be  transported  to  Canada.  Another,  having 
a  settlement  in  Ireland  or  Scotland  or  Germany,  would  be 
transported  there.  The  plan  which  we  propose  is  the  same  as 
that  which  we  have  in  operation  among  ourselves.  Many  of 
the  maritime  states  have  taken  action  in  sending  alien  paupers 
to  their  homes  in  foreign  countries  already,  but  this  has  not  been 
recognized  as  a  fixed  and  uniform  policy.  If  the  states  or  the 
general  government,  as  case  may  be,  should  make  regular  appro- 
priations for  the  purpose  of  sending  back,  under  the  limitations 
naturally  suggested  by  humanity  and  good  sense,  all  alien  paupers 
which  have  been  smuggled  into  our  states,  foreign  governments 
and  "  national "  philanthropists  would  soon  cease  to  regard  our 
country  as  a  "  Botany  Bay  "  to  which  they  can  with  impunity 
send  their  paupers  to  be  supported  and  their  criminals  to  plun- 


PAPER  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


7 


der.  That  they  have  done  so  in  the  past  is  an  offense  which 
ought,  ere  this,  to  have  been  a  subject  for  negotiation  and  remon- 
strance by  the  department  of  state. 

The  course  which  we  have  suggested  may  not  improbably 
be  made  applicable  in  the  correction  or  removal  of  some  of  the 
problems  of  the  Chinese  question,  which  are  presented  for  solu- 
tion to  our  Pacific  states. 

It  might  be  feared  that  measures  of  the  character  recom- 
mended would  be  distasteful  to  our  foreign  born  fellow  citizens. 
In  reply  we  would  say  that  no  class  of  persons  are  more  decided 
in  their  opinions  regarding  the  injustice  of  the  transportation  of 
paupers  and  criminals  to  our  own  country.  The  foreign  born 
citizens  immigrate  often  for  the  purpose  of  escaping  the  burden 
of  taxation  and  military  conscription.  When  they  come  to  the 
United  States,  and  are  naturalized,  and  have  assumed  their  pro- 
per share  of  our  responsibilities,  they  are  by  no  means  anxious 
to  take  on  in  addition  a  part  of  the  public  burdens  of  the  coun- 
tries which  they  have  voluntarily  left.  It  will  be  found,  as  soon 
as  any  active  measures  are  taken  to  remedy  the  evils  we  have 
alluded  to,  that  our  foreign  born  citizens  will  give  them  their 
hearty  support. 

I  now  beg  leave  to  call  attention  to  some  facts  tending  to 
show  that  the  class  of  persons  referred  to  have  been  system- 
atically sent  to  our  shores  by  nations  and  municipalities  acting 
under  regularly  enacted  laws.  I  will  remark  in  passing  that 
the  English  people  years  ago  suffered  a  modified  form  of  the 
evil  we  have  been  discussing,  and  that  out  of  it  grew  the  present 
Irish  Poor  Law. 

Before  the  establishment  of  the  Irish  Poor  Law,  great  numbers 
of  the  Irish  poor  emigrated  to  England.  The  burden  to  Eng- 
land became  so  great  that  the  strongest  representations  were 
made  to  induce  Parliament  to  remedy  the  evil.  In  a  letter  to 
the  agriculturists  of  England,  published  in  1830,  and  quoted  in 
the  Quarterly  Revieiv  of  that  year,  it  was  represented  that  the 
poor  of  Ireland  were  compelled,  through  want,  to  migrate  to 
England  "  in  hordes,"  and  "  that  owing  to  the  absence  of  a 
poor-law  in  Ireland,  English  property  was  virtually  rated  to 
maintain  a  great  part  of  the  Irish  pauper  population."  England 


8 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


and  Ireland  brought  their  products  to  a  common  market.  It 
was  said  that  the  English  agriculturist  paid  a  heavy  tax  out  of 
the  produce  of  his  land  toward  the  support  of  the  Irish  poor, 
while  the  Irish  agriculturist,  receiving  the  same  price  for  goods, 
paid  no  poor  rate  at  all.  This  influx  of  Irish  pauperism  into 
England  for  support  was  one  of  the  strongest  motives  which 
led  to  the  enactment  of  the  Irish  Poor  Law.  The  injustice  to 
the  English  rate-payer  was  so  evident,  that  Parliament  supplied 
the  remedy  at  an  early  clay.  What  was  an  intolerable  grievance 
to  England,  with  Ireland  a  part  of  the  British  empire,  would 
have  been  still  more  so  had  she  been  a  foreign  nation. 

The  Edinburgh  Review,  for  March,  1831,  speaking  of  the 
increase  of  paupers,  says  :  "  They  can  be  disposed  of  only  in 
one  of  two  ways,  that  is,  either  by  placing  them  on  unoccupied 
and  uncultivated  lands  at  home,  or  moving  them  to  the  colo- 
nies." After  showing  that  the  first  of  these  methods  was  im- 
practicable, it  took  up  the  advocacy  of  the  second,  and  gave  its 
approval  to  a  bill,  then  before  Parliament,  for  aiding  paupers  to 
remove  to  the  colonies.  Canada  was  the  colony  most  prominent 
in  the  writer's  mind.  He  goes  on  to  say,  in  advocacy  of  the 
bill,  "  nothing,  therefore,  can  be  a  greater  mistake,  than  to  sup- 
pose that  those  who  consent  to  make  an  advance  for  the  removal 
of  paupers  are  making  a  sacrifice  to  get  rid  of  an  accidental  and 
transitory  evil.  The  fact  is,  they  are  making  a  comparatively 
small  sacrifice  to  rid  themselves  of  an  evil  which  is  deeply 
seated,  which  is  rapidly  spreading,  and  which,  if  it  be  not  effect- 
ually counteracted,  will,  at  no  distant  period,  sink  all  classes 
below  the  level  of  that  which  is  now  lowest."  It  is  known  to 
all  persons  of  experience,  that  a  very  large  percentage  of  per- 
sons belonging  to  the  hereditary  pauper  class,  sent  at  first  to 
Canada,  migrate  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  United  States.  The 
measure  thus  advocated  in  1831,  and  which  shortly  after  be- 
came a  law,  was  virtually  a  law  to  facilitate  the  transportation 
of  English  paupers  to  the  United  States.  "  Emigration,"  says 
Knightis  Cyclojicedia,  under  the  article  "  Emigration,"  "  is  one 
of  the  'modes  of  relief  contemplated  by  the  Poor-Law  Amend- 
ment acts  (4  and  5  Will.  IV,  c.  7G  ;  11  and  12  Vic,  c.  110; 
12  and  13  Vic,  c  103,  and  13  and  14  Vic,  c  101).    In  some 


PAPER  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


9 


years  a  large  number  have  emigrated  with  the  assistance 
of  funds  obtained  under  the  Act  (4  and  5  Will.  IV).  By  sec- 
tion 62  of  that  act,  owners  and  rate  payers  are  empowered  to 
raise  money  on  security  of  the  rates,  for  the  purposes  of  emigra- 
tion, under  the  authority  of  the  Poor-Law  Commissioners." 
*  *  *  "By  the  12  and  13  Vic,  ch.  103,  the  guardians  of 
any  parish  or  union  are  empowered  to  expend  money,  to  the 
amount  of  £10,  upon  the  emigration  of  any  poor  person  belong- 
ing to^the  parish,  or  to  any  parish  in  the  union,  without  the 
necessity  of  a  parochial  meeting  to  give  their  consent."  *  *  * 
"The  13  and  14  Vic,  c  101,  enables  boards  or  guardians,  under 
similar  restrictions,  to  expend  money  in  and  about  the  emigra- 
tion of  orphan  children  under  sixteen  having  no  settlement,  or 
whose  settlement  is  unknown."  *  *  *  "  Under  the  Irish 
Poor-Law  Act,  money  may  be  raised  for  enabling  poor  persons 
to  emigrate  to  British  colonies,  but  the  money  so  raised  must 
not  exceed  one  shilling  in  the  pound  on  the  net  annual  value  of 
ratable  property."  It  will  be  noted  here,  that  Parliament 
thought  it  necessary  to  limit  the  amount  which  the  authorities 
might  expend  in  getting  rid  of  their  pauper  population,  rightly 
judging  that  their  avarice,  or  their  desire  to  relieve  themselves 
of  the  burden  of  the  poor,  might  lead  them  to  too  rapid  action. 
The  cheapest  mode  of  getting  rid  of  paupers  byVhis  emigra- 
tion process  was  evidently  to  send  them  to  Canada,  or  to  some 
one  of  the  British  North  American  colonies.  While  these  laws, 
on  their  face,  seemed  designed  to  transport  paupers  from  one 
part  of  the  British  empire  to  another,  they  have  operated,  in 
point  of  fact,  to  bring  large  numbers  of  them  to  the  L^nited 
States,  and  especially  to  the  state  of  New  York.  That  the 
policy  of  shipping  paupers  to  America  is  well  recognized  and 
understood  in  England,  appears  not  only  from  the  statute  books, 
but  from  allusions  made  to  the  topic  in  treatises  on  pauperism. 
Fawcett,  in  his  Lectures  on  Pauperism,  page  55,  says  :  "  The 
most  popular  remedy  to  get  rid  of  our  own  paupers  is  to  ship 
them  off  to  America.  Now,  the  advocates  of  such  a  policy 
overlook  the  fact  that  the  United  States  are  beginning  to  be 
burdened  with  their  own  pauperism,  and,  therefore,  would  very 
properly  object  to  being  made  a  receptacle  of  the  pauper- 
2 


10 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


ism  of  the  old  world."  We  think  that  every  New  York  tax 
payer  will  coincide  with  the  opinion  so  naively  expressed  by 
Professor  Fawcett.  Scrope,  in  his  Political  Economy,  second 
edition,  1873,  says  :  "I  will  not  here  reproduce  the  arguments 
employed  in  an  early  edition  of  this  work,  to  show  how  griev- 
ously the  British  rate-payer  and  the  British  laborer  suffer  from 
the  emigration  of  crowds  of  Irish  poor,  driven  by  impending 
starvation  from  their  own  country,  to  seek  work  at  any  wages, 
or  relief  of  any  kind,  in  the  wealthier  and  more  liberal  island  ; 
by  which  our  own  laborers  were  forced  out  of  work  and  upon 
the  rates  ;  nor  those  I  urged  in  the  interest  of  the  Irish  poor 
themselves,  and  the  peace,  order  and  security  of  property  in 
Ireland."  He  goes  on  to  say  "  that  a  commission  to  inquire 
into  the  condition  of  the  Irish  poor,  among  other  means  of 
affording  relief,  reported  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  depots 
in  which  they  could  be  fed,  and  employed  on  public  works  until 
permanently  provided  for  by  emigration  and  location  in  a 
colony."  After  speaking  of  the  terrible  consequences  of  the 
Irish  famine,  he  says  :  "  Thousands  upon  thousands  fled  from 
a  country  so  afflicted  by  Providence,  and  neglected  by  its  own 
rulers,  and  the  depletion  occasioned  by  the  famine  itself,  and  the 
constant  outflow  of  the  peasantry  to  seek  a  living  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  which  set  in  then  and  has  continued  ever 
since,  have,  together,  solved  the  problem  of  the  redundancy 
of  population  in  Ireland."  *  *  *  "It  [emigration]  offers 
the  true  solution  of  the  problem,  how  to  deal  with  able-bodied 
pauperism  wherever  it  exists."  It  will  be  remarked  that  these 
English  writers  unwittingly  used,  in  their  discussion,  the  term 
British  colony  and  the  United  States  as  somehow  convertible 
terms.  It  would  not  be  courteous  to  put  a  law  on  the  statute 
book,  or  to  organize  an  association,  or  to  provide  money  for  the 
transportation  of  paupers  to  the  United  States  ;  but  when  they 
come  to  speak  of  the  actual  facts  in  the  case,  they  recognize 
the  United  States  as  the  country  which  the  paupers,  emigrating 
from  England,  ultimately  and  actually  reach.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  are  always  ready  to  receive  an  industrious  and 
able-bodied  emigrant,  however  poor  lie  may  be  ;  but  they  are 
not  willing  to  support  that  class  of  indolent  and  hereditary 


PAPER  BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


11 


paupers  which  have  been  smuggled  into  our  country  by  the 
connivance  or  direct  agency  of  foreign  nations. 

Frequent  complaints  have  been  made  of  the  number  of  pau- 
pers and  dependent  persons,  who  have  been  introduced  into  our 
country  from  various  parts  of  Germany  and  Switzerland.  It  is 
quite  difficult  to  reach  direct  proof  of  such  transportation  of 
paupers  to  our  shores,  but  that  considerable  numbers  have  been 
sent  here  is  almost  universally  believed  :  and  the  positive  evi- 
dence upon  which  this  general  conviction  rests,  might  be  reached 
by  a  certain  amount  of  time  and  labor.  That  convicts  have 
been  pardoned  on  condition  that  they  should  emigrate  to  the 
United  States,  is  unfortunately  only  too  evident.  In  a  debate 
on  this  subject  in  the  United  States  Senate,  March  19,  1866, 
Mr.  Sumner  referred  to  an  "  official  correspondence,  showing 
that  the  authorities  in  Basleland,  in  Switzerland,  had  recently 
undertaken  to  pardon  a  person  found  guilty  of  murder,  on  the 
condition  that  he  would  emigrate  to  America  —  meaning  there- 
by the  United  States."  Also,  that  it  has  been  "  the  habit  in 
the  island  of  Newfoundland  to  pardon  persons  convicted  of  in- 
famous offenses,  on  condition  that  they  would  come  to  the 
United  States  ;  and  there  are  several  very  recent  instances  of 
pardons  in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover,  in  Germany,  on  similar 
conditions.  For  instance,  I  have  here,"  he  says,  "  a  copy  of 
two  scraps  from  a  German  newspaper.  One  is  from  the  Lune- 
burg  Advertiser,  of  September  10,  1865,"  to-wit,  "Within  the 
last  few  months,  our  chief  justice  has  pardoned  three  of  the 
greatest  criminals  in  the  kingdom,  on  condition  they  emigrate 
to  the  United  States.  Henry  Gieske  for  theft,  J.  Sander  for 
arson,  and  John  Winter  for  robbery.  The  two  former  are  already 
on  their  way  to  New  York  from  Hamburg."  Then  there  is 
another  scrap  from  the  same  newspaper  of  the  date  November 
12,  1865.  "  The  culprit  Camman,  who  was  condemned  to  death 
for  highway  robbery  and  murder,  has  had  his  punishment  com- 
muted to  emigration  to  America."  *  *  *  "I  have  seen  a 
gentleman  who  narrated  to  me  an  incident  that  occurred  to  him 
in  one  of  the  prisons  of  Baden-Baden,  during  the  last  year. 
Visiting  that  prison  he  heard  himself  the  jailer  or  an  officer  of 
the  prison  make  a  proposition  to  a  criminal  to  the  effect  that 


12 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


he  should  be  pardoned  on  the  condition  that  he  would  emigrate 
to  the  United  States."  In  the  same  debate,  Mr.  Grimes,  of 
Iowa,  said  :  "  I  am  as  conscious  as  I  can  be  of  a  fact  that  is  not 
within  my  own  personal  knowledge,  that  the  exportation  of 
criminals  from  Germany  to  this  country  has  been  going  on  for 
years.  Last  year  I  saw  a  gentleman,  a  citizen  of  my  own  town, 
who  visited  his  fatherland,  and  when  he  came  back  told  me  that 
he  came  in  company  with  a  detective,  who  brought  several 
criminals  to  New  York,  and  turned  them  loose  there.  The 
government  of  one  of  the  little  German  principalities  paid  all 
the  expenses  of  the  transportation  of  those  criminals,  and  of  the 
detective  who  brought  them  over  in  charge,  and  when  they  landed 
he  gave  them  a  certain  sum  of  money  with  which  to  start,  and 
probably  within  a  short  time  they  were  in  Sing  Sing."  *  * 
A  joint  resolution  was  then  passed  protesting  against  such  acts 
as  unfriendly  and  inconsistent  with  the  comity  of  nations. 

The  intimation  that  muncipalities  have  been  active  in  sending 
paupers  to  our  country  is  very  clearly  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing quotation  from  the  last  volume  of  the  Cobden  Club  Essays, 
"  On  Local  Government  Taxation  in  Ireland, "  by  W.  Neilson 
Hancock,  LL.D.  Speaking  of  the  power  given  by  Parliament 
to  local  authorities  in  Ireland  to  raise  taxes  for  sending  paupers 
out  of  the  country,  Mr.  Hancock  writes  as  follows  :  "  The  poor 
Law  of  1838  sanctioned  the  principle  of  an  emigration  rate,  but 
the  original  act  prohibited  assistance  being  given  to  emigrants 
going  to  other  than  British  colonies,  thus  excluding  emigration 
to  the  United  States.  When  the  pressure  of  the  famine  came, 
the  most  munificent  contributions  to  alleviate  the  distress  came 
from  the  United  States,  and  Parliament  repealed  the  restriction 
in  1849,  and  it  was  found  afterwards  that  of  the  Irish  agricul- 
tural classes  eighty-four  per  cent  usually  emigrated  to  theLTnited 
States. 

"  By  the  act  of  1838  emigration  rates  were  only  to  be  levied 
when  the  majority  in  value  of  rate  payers  of  an  electoral  divi- 
sion voted  for  the  rate.  In  1843  the  guardians  were  allowed  to 
impose  emigration  rates  not  exceeding  in  one  year  sixpence  in 
the  pound  or  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  but  these  were  only  to  be 
applied  to  relieve  persons  who  had  been  three  months  in  the 


PAPER   BY  MARTIN  B.  ANDERSON. 


13 


workhouse.  In  184V,  after  only  four  years'  existence,  both  these 
restrictions  were  abolished.  In  1849  provision  was  made  for 
borrowing  money  for  emigration,  but  Parliament  thought  it 
necessary  to  impose  a  limit.  The  entire  sum  borrowed  to  assist 
emigration  was  not  to  exceed  eleven  shillings  and  four  pence  in 
the  electoral  division,  and  two  shillings  and  eight  pence  on  the 
union  at  large,  or  fourteen  shillings  in  the  pound  ;  this  would, 
at  the  then  valuation  of  Ireland,  have  amounted  to  about 
£9,000,000.  All  the  guardians  did  expend  on  emigration  in 
twenty  years  after  1849  was  only  £119,280,  or  about  £6,000 
(or  half  a  farthing  in  the  pound)  in  the  year. 

It  thus  appears  that  all  attempts  of  Parliament  to  regulate 
what  persons  were  to  emigrate,  where  they  were  to  go  to,  or 
how  much  was  to  be  spent  on  them,  eventuated  in  restrictions 
that  had  either  to  be  promptly  repealed,  or  were  so  wide  of  the 
mark  as  to  be  practically  inoperative." 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  whole  paragraph  is  shown 
by  the  context  to  bear  upon  paupers  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
term. 

It  seems  from  this  that  the  local  authorities  in  Ireland  have 
spent  £119,280  or  about  $600,000  in  assisting  emigration.  At 
the  average  rate  of  passage,  this  would  provide  for  the  trans- 
portation of  something  like  twenty-four  thousand  persons  to 
America.  Probably  something  like  ninety  per  cent  of  these 
landed  ultimately  in  the  United  States,  whether  their  nominal 
destination  was  Quebec  or  New  York.  From  this  very  in- 
adequate estimate  of  the  number  of  paupers  that  has  been  sent 
from  Ireland  we  may  infer  the  number  that  has  been  transported 
from  the  united  kingdom,  under  sanction  of  act  of  Parliament, 
by  local  authorities,  by  friends,  and  in  various  surreptitious 
modes  for  the  past  twenty  years.  These  statements  will  to 
some  extent  account  for  the  fact  that  two-thirds  of  the  paupers 
of  the  state  of  New  York  are  foreign  born,  and  will  account 
also  for  the  number  of  paupers  that  have  been  maintained  here- 
tofore out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  head  money  by  the  emigrant 
commission  at  Ward's  Island  and  elsewhere  in  the  state.  A 
similar  state  of  things  must  exist  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
all  the  northern  states.   The  magnitude  of  the  evil  has  not  been 


14 


FOREIGN  PAUPERS. 


duly  recognized  because  so  little  attention  has  been  given  to 
the  facts. 

We  believe  it  to  be  the  imperative  duty  of  the  general  govern- 
ment to  take  measures  at  once  to  prevent  persons  actually  paupers 
or  criminals  from  being  sent  to  our  country  and  also  to  give 
power  to  the  states  if  need  be  to  send  such  persons,  when  found, 
back  to  the  countries  from  which  they  came  and  to  which  they 
belong.  That  we  have  a  clear  right  to  do  so  is  shown  by  the 
paper  of  John  N.  Pomeroy,  Esq.,  published  in  the  report  of  the 
New  York  Board  of  Charities  for  1875.  If  the  United  States 
and  the  states  in  the  proper  exercise  of  their  several  powers 
were  to  adopt  and  carry  out  with  vigor  the  two  classes  of 
measures  which  we  have  hinted  at,  we  believe  that  the  evil 
which  we  have  described  would  be  greatly  diminished  if  not 
entirely  abated. 


r 


